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Answer: C. Ethiopia

Abyssenia, now modern day Ethiopia, is considered the birthplace of coffee. Ancient Ethiopian history tells us that around the year 850, there was a goatherd by the name of Kaldi, responsible for discovering the now famous plant and introducing it to Abyssenian culture. He saw his goats eating coffee cherries. Afterwards, he observed a change in their behavior, gaining  a high amount of energy and unable to sleep at night.

Upon his arrival at a local monastery, the goatherd presented the coffee berries to the head Monk, ecstatically exclaiming the effect that these berries had: he’d never felt so elated in thought and body after trying one! The head Monk grabbed the berries from Kaldi’s outstretched hand and threw them into the fire, deeming them the “Devil’s work.”

Within moments, the chamber was filled with the smell of roasting coffee. This brought other Monks out to investigate what was making the indelible aroma.

Intrigued, the curious Monks raked the coffee beans from the fire and crushed them in order to put out the molten embers. The Monks poured hot water  over the now powdered coffee. The Monks stayed up all night drinking this new concoction, vowing to always drink it in order to stay awake for their nocturnal devotions. News of this event spread, and soon coffee was consumed throughout the country.

Coffee was introduced to the trade world in 1454 when the Mufti of Aden visited Ethiopia and sampled the beverage. Claiming that the drink had cured him of some affliction, his approval carried so much weight amongst his men that soon word of mouth spread like wildfire. His men introduced coffee to the ports in Yemen and Mecca - and coffee was seemingly on the menu everywhere.

Coffee Facts

• Coffee is a fruit, the pit of a berry.
• Coffee has no calories
• Coffee is the world’s 2nd largest traded commodity.  Crude oil is first.
• The lighter the bean, the more caffeine.
• Europe imports more coffee than the USA.
• Brazil is the lead exporting country in coffee
• Finland consumes the most coffee per ratio in the world.
• U.S. citizens spend on average $1,092 a year on coffee.
• Millennials spend more on coffee than baby boomers
• Hawaii is the only American state that grows coffee
• Beethoven loved coffee
• Mecca banned coffee, believed to stimulate radical thinking and idleness.
• In ancient Arab culture, a woman could only divorce her husband if he didn’t like her coffee.
• Caffeine is often sold to Coca-Cola.
• Not verified: Yemen claims to be the historical and mythical origin of coffee.

Answer: F. Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand  has never played more than one character in a film, but her résumé is immensely impressive: a vocalist, stage and screen performer, film director and producer, and winner of five Emmy awards. After her splashy debut on Broadway in 1962’s I Can Get It For You Wholesale, Barbra Streisand played entertainer Fanny Brice in the 1964 Broadway musical Funny Girl. Her 1965 television special, My Name is Barbra, won five Emmy awards and made her a small-screen star. In 1968 she went herself one better, winning the best actress Oscar for William Wyler‘s film version of Funny Girl. A legendary case of stage fright kept Streisand from performing publicly for the next two decades, but in those years she remained a top star in recording and movie studios. She wrote, directed and starred in 1983’s Yentl and 1991’s The Prince of Tides (with Nick Nolte). In 1986 she began singing in public again, and in 1998 she married actor James Brolin. As of 2009, she had won more gold records than any other performer in history and the top-selling female artist in American music recording history.  While not making movies or singing, Streisand kicks up dust in the political arena as an outspoken Democrat.

The following played more than one character in the below films.

Nicolas Cage: Adaptation (2002); Cage plays identical twin screenwriters, Charlie Kaufman / Donald Kaufman

Tom Hardy: Legend (2015); Hardy plays identical twin gangsters, Reggie Kray / Ron Kray

Jeremy Irons: Dead Ringers (1998); Irons plays identical twin gynecologists , Beverly Mantle / Elliot Mantle.

Scarlett Johansson: The Island (2005);  Johansson plays two different characters, Jordan Two Delta and Sarah Jordan.

Jack Nicholson: Mars Attacks! (1996); Nicholson plays two different characters, US President James Dale and nutcase Art Land.

Interesting note: John Travolta and Nicholas Cage both played two characters in John Woo’s Face Off.

Answer: C. Nile River

1. Nile River – 6,693 km.
2. Amazon River – 6,436 km.
3. Yangtze River – 6,378 km.
4. Mississippi/Missouri – 5,970 km.
5. Yenisei/Angara – 5,539 km.

1.  Nile River – 6,693 km 

Although most of us recognize the Nile as the lifeline of Egypt, the Nile is, in fact, an international river shared by 11 countries in Africa. However, it is the main source of water in two countries: Egypt and Sudan. The Blue and the White Nile are the two tributaries of the river with the latter having a greater length than the former. The source of the White Nile is not yet fully determined but is believed to be somewhere in Burundi or Rwanda. According to some reports, Lake Victoria is considered to be the source of the White Nile which is, in turn, fed by the Kagera River whose two major tributaries are the Ruvyironza and the Nyabarongo rivers of Burundi and Rwanda, respectively. The Kagera is formed at the confluence of these two rivers near the Tanzania-Rwanda border. The Blue Nile has a more defined origin in Lake Tana in Ethiopia. The two tributaries meet near the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. The Nile River’s final course is through Egypt before it forms a delta and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. According to the USGS, the length of the Nile River is 4,258 miles. It is the longest river in the world as well as the longest river in Africa.

2. Amazon River – 6,436 km 

The Amazon River is undoubtedly the largest river in the world by discharge volume of water. However, its position as the second-longest river in the world is highly disputed as the title has for long been granted to the Nile River in Egypt. The dispute arises from the determination of the origin of the Amazon. Until now, the headwaters of the Apurímac River were considered to be the origin of the Amazon River. However, a recent 2014 study claims that the origin of the Amazon can be traced to the Cordillera Rumi Cruz from where Peru’s Mantaro River originates. This river then confluences with the Apurímac River (whose headwaters were earlier regarded as the source of the Amazon) and then other tributaries join the river downstream to form the Ucayali River which finally confluences with the Marañón River to form the main stem of the Amazon River. However, critics of this measurement point out that the study has not been published.

3. Yangtze River – 6,378 km 

The Yangtze River is the world’s third longest river and the longest to flow entirely within one country. It is also Asia’s longest river. The river basin of the Yangtze houses one-third of the population of China, the most populated country in the world. Two origins of the Yangtze River has been suggested. Traditionally, the government of China recognizes the Tuotuo tributary located in the Tanggula Mountains as the source of the river. At 17,526 ft above sea-level, it is definitely the highest source of the Yangtze. According to new data, however, the source of the Yangtze River is located in the Jari Hill from where the headwaters of the Dam Qu tributary originate. These tributaries, and more join to form the mighty Yangtze River which finally drains into the East China Sea at Shanghai.

4. Mississippi/Missouri – 5,970 km

The river system comprising of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Jefferson rivers, is regarded as the world’s fourth longest river system. The river system drains 31 US states and 2 Canadian provinces. The Mississippi River begins in northern Minnesota where Lake Itasca is believed to be the origin of the river and drains into the Gulf of Mexico. However, when we regarded the Jefferson River as the furthest source of the Mississippi River, then we get the Mississippi–Missouri–Jefferson river system.

5. Yenisei/Angara – 5,539 km

This is the world’s fifth-longest river system and the largest draining into the Arctic Ocean. The Selenge River is regarded as the headwaters of this river system. The Selenge River is 992 km long and drains into Lake Baikal. The Angara river rises from Lake Baikal near Listvyanka and flows through the Irkutsk Oblast of Russia and finally joins the Yenisei River near Strelka. The Yenisei finally drains into the Arctic Ocean. The total length covered is 5,539 miles.

Answer: B. No

Only the central part of the Netherlands is geographically named Holland. This part of the Netherlands consists of two provinces Noord Holland (North Holland) and Zuid Holland (South Holland). This is the region where important cities such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague (Den Haag), Delft, Leiden and Haarlem are located, making it confusing for some visitors.

Answer: D. Tweeter and the Monkey Man

Listen to the song

See lyrics

Answer: D. Mamma Mia! (2008): Streep plays a free-spirited American expiate living on a Greek island.

The Bridges of Madison County (1995): Italian accent

A Cry in the Dark (1988): Australian accent

The House of the Spirits (1993); Chilean accent

Out of Africa (1985): Danish accent

Sophie's Choice (1982): Polish accent

Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress, often described as the "best actress of her generation." Particularly known for her versatility and accents, Streep has been nominated for a record 21 Academy Awards, where she has won three. Among other accolades, she has received 32 Golden Globe nominations, more than any other person, and won eight.

Answer: E. The Romani people were called "Gypsies" because Europeans mistakenly believed they came from Egypt

Romani (also spelled Romany) colloquially known as Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally itinerant, living mostly in Europe and the Americas. The Romani originate from the northern Indian subcontinent, from the Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab regions of modern-day India. They entered Europe between the eighth and tenth centuries. "Traveller" is also a common term used to describe Gypsy groups.

The Roma’s own supposed disposition to wander has been forcibly furthered by exile or deportation. Only 80 years after their first appearance in western Europe, they fell under the penalty of banishment in almost all the nations of western Europe. Despite their systematic exile, or transportation abroad, however, they continued to reappear in one guise or another back in the countries they had left.

Few people are aware that ‘gypped’ is a vulgar ethnic slur – meaning to defraud, swindle, cheat – derived from the name Gypsy. Another term used is “gypsy cab,” which is an unlicensed cab.

During World War II, the Nazis embarked on a systematic genocide of the Romani, a process known in Romani as the Porajmos. Romanies were marked for extermination and sentenced to forced labor and imprisonment in concentration camps. They were often killed on sight, especially by the Einsatzgruppen (paramilitary death squads) on the Eastern Front. The total number of victims has been variously estimated at between 220,000 and 1,500,000; even the lower figure would make the Porajmos one of the largest mass killings in history. Per ratio, no ethnic group suffered a greater number of deaths by the hands of the Nazis.

FAMOUS CELEBRITIES OF ROMANI ORIGIN

Michael Caine (1933)
Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977)
Yul Brynner (1920-1985)
Elvis Presley (1935-1977)
Bob Hoskins (1942-2014)
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
Rita Hayworth (1918-1987)

Answer: D. Haiti

On January 1, 1804, Haiti proclaimed its independence from France, and became the second independent state in the Western Hemisphere and the first free black republic in the world. It started with a slave revolt in the French Haitian colony, then named Saint-Domingue. Toussaint-Louverture, a former slave, took control of the rebels. Gifted with natural military genius, Toussaint organized an effective guerrilla war against the island’s French colonial population. He found able generals in two other former slaves, Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henri Christophe, and in 1795 orchestrated  the abolishment of slavery. Toussaint became governor-general of the colony, and in 1801 conquered the Spanish portion of the island, freeing the slaves there as well. In 1802, a French invasion force ordered by Napoleon landed on Saint-Domingue. After several months of furious fighting, Toussaint agreed to a cease-fire. He retired to his plantation, but in 1803 was arrested and taken to a dungeon in the French Alps, where he was tortured and died. Soon after Toussaint’s arrest, Napoleon announced his intention to reintroduce slavery on Haiti/Saint-Domingue. Dessalines led a new revolt against French rule. With the aid of the British, the rebels scored a major victory against the French force, which led to their surrender. In 1804, General Dessalines assumed dictatorial power, and renamed the former colony, Haiti, after its original Arawak name. Haiti became the official second independent nation in the Americas.

The United States, the first independent nation in the western hemisphere, initially supported the rebellion, but then changed sides and supported France. This was due to a fear of a slave revolt in their own nation, which was the largest (and considered the most callous) slave-holding nation in the world.

Answer: E. Watermelon

Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) is a plant species in the family Cucurbitaceae, a vine-like flowering plant originating in West Africa. It is a highly cultivated fruit worldwide, having more than 1000 varieties. There is evidence from seeds in Pharaoh tombs of watermelon cultivation in Ancient Egypt.

The discovery of the New World by Columbus began what became known as the Columbian Exchange. This was an exchange of people, plants, animals and disease across the Atlantic Ocean. The Europeans were the main beneficiaries of this exchange. Europe received new crops of corn and potatoes which greatly improved European diets. Native  Americans, however, suffered from the exchange of germs, to which they had never been exposed. As a result, it is estimated that as many as 90% of Native Americans died from small pox and other diseased brought by the Europeans. The changes in agriculture significantly altered global populations. The most significant immediate impact of the Columbian exchange was the cultural exchanges and the transfer of people (both free and enslaved) between continents.

Answer: C. Rory Storm and the Hurricanes



Born in Liverpool in 1942, Alan Caldwell took the name Rory Storm when he formed his own rock band, Rory Storm & the Hurricanes. In 1962, they were the most popular band in Liverpool with more fans than their friends, the Beatles.  It is widely believed that an upstart singer Rod Stewart, who saw Rory perform many times in the early days, "stole" the singer's trademark persona and found success of his own with well-choreographed moves on stage and flaunting his blonde hair. Rory would indirectly make history when he advised his drummer, Ritchie Starkey, to change his name to "Ringo" because of the drummer's penchant for wearing rings. Ringo Starr had to fill in many times for original Beatle drummer, Pete Best. When Best was forced to leave the Beatles – believed to be due to an inferior drumming style – Ringo was the unanimous choice to replace him.

With the explosion of Beatlemania, other groups out of Liverpool, such as Gerry & the Pacemakers, The Searchers and Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas achieved success. However, Rory and his band fell on hard times and were constantly passed over for a recording contract.

Rory had to deal almost on a daily basis with the Beatles' success because his sister Iris was Paul McCartney's girlfriend, before and after the Beatles’ success. Even after the couples’ break-up, Paul kept in touch regularly with Rory's mother, Violet Caldwell. In fact, when Paul wrote Yesterday, the first person he called was Violet to sing it to her over the phone.

Some followers of the Liverpool club scene prior to 1962 believe that Rory Storm was just as talented as any of the acts that found fame in the "British Invasion." Success was all around Rory Storm for many years, but life dealt him an unfortunate hand.

Answer: E. Mary I



Mary I (1516 –1558), also known as Mary Tudor and Bloody Mary, was the only child of Henry VIII by his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, to survive to adulthood. She was the queen of England and Ireland July 1553 until her death. She is best known for her vigorous attempt to reverse the English Reformation, which had begun during the reign of her father Henry VIII. Her attempt to restore to the Church the property confiscated in the previous two reigns was largely thwarted by parliament, but during her five-year reign, Mary had over 280 religious dissenters burned at the stake, which led to her denunciation as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents. After Mary's death, her re-establishment of Roman Catholicism was reversed by her younger half-sister and successor, Elizabeth I.

Henry’s Six Wives Club



1. Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536): Demoted for Bearing No Son

Henry took the throne in 1509, at age 17. Six weeks later, he married Catherine of Aragon, daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, and the widow of his elder brother, Arthur Tudor (1486 –1502). As the eldest son and heir apparent of Henry VII of England, Arthur Tudor died young. It was a custom in the Tudor Court for the younger brother to marry the wife of an older brother. From the moment young Henry took his nuptials, he obsessed over continuing the Tudor line. Of multiple pregnancies and several births, the only child to survive was Henry and Catherine’s daughter, Mary.

Read More about Henry VIII's 6 wives

Answer: B. An excellent platform to speak

A bully pulpit is a conspicuous position that provides an opportunity to speak out and be listened to. This term was coined by United States President Theodore Roosevelt, who referred to his office as a "bully pulpit," by which he meant a terrific platform from which to advocate an agenda.

For Roosevelt, bully was an adjective meaning "excellent" or "first-rate" — not the noun bully ("a blustering, browbeating person") that's so common today.

Answer: B. George Harrison

“Badge” was written by Eric Clapton and George Harrison. Harrison, who is listed on the album as "L'Angelo Misterioso," also played rhythm guitar on this, since Cream had only one guitarist: Clapton.

The title has nothing to do with the song. Clapton saw Harrison's notes for this, and misread "Bridge" as "Badge." He thought this is what Harrison named the song, so they used it for the title.

The lyrics are not intended to make sense. Many of them were taken from drunken conversations Harrison had with Ringo Starr.

Cream recorded this shortly before their final shows: two sold-out performances at Royal Albert Hall in England. It was one of three studio recordings on their last album; the rest of it was filled with live cuts.

Cream had broken up by the time this was released. Clapton was already working with his new group, Blind Faith.

This is one of the few Cream songs that Eric Clapton sang lead on, as Jack Bruce usually handled vocals. Also, this is the only Cream song to include 5 people: in addition to Clapton, Bruce, Baker and Harrison, Felix Pappalardi played the piano and Mellotron. Pappalardi was the producer of 3 of Cream's 4 albums (Disreali Gears, Wheels Of Fire, and Goodbye) and contributed by playing a wide variety of instruments on those albums.

Clapton ran his guitar through a Leslie speaker cabinet to create a swirling sound. The Leslie Cabinet contained a rotating paddle and was designed for organs, but many musicians tried it with guitars. Jimmy Page used the technique on "Good Times, Bad Times."

The song titles were written on tombstones inside the album, leaving little doubt that it was their last.

Clapton had played on Harrison's album Wonderwall the previous year, and on The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," which was released the same month as this.

Harrison was later asked if “Badge” was about heroin. He replied, “No, it’s about a badge.”

Listen to it now

Answer: D. Thin Mints

Most Popular Girl Scout Cookies

Thin mint
Samoas/Caramel deLites
Tagalongs/Peanut Butter Patties
Do-si-dos/Peanut Butter Sandwich
Trefoils/Shortbread

Girl Scout Cookie History

An icon of American culture

For more than 100 years, Girl Scouts have helped ensure the success of the iconic annual cookie sale — and they’ve had fun, developed valuable life skills, and made their communities a better place every step of the way. Founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, it was organized after Low met Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, in 1911. Upon returning to Savannah, Georgia, she telephoned a distant cousin, saying, "I've got something for the girls of Savannah, and all of America, and all the world, and we're going to start it tonight!"

More on Girl Scout Cookie History

Answer: D. Roman Empire: Senate

The expression dates back to Roman times. The Senate declared emperor Nero a hostis publicus in AD 68. Its direct translation is "public enemy." Whereas "public" is currently used in English in order to describe something related to collectivity at large, with an implication towards government or the State, the Latin word "publicus" could, in addition to that meaning, also refer directly to people, making it the equivalent of the genitive of populus ("people"), populi ("popular" or "of the people"). Thus, "public enemy" and "enemy of the people" are, etymologically, near synonyms.

The term has been used for centuries in literature: Coriolanus, the play by William Shakespeare in 1605, and An Enemy of the People, the play by Henrik Ibsen in 1882.

The words "ennemi du peuple" were used extensively during the French Revolution. On  December 25, 1793, French revolutionary Robespierre stated: "The revolutionary government owes to the good citizen all the protection of the nation; it owes nothing to the Enemies of the People but death.” Ironically  Robespierre was later beheaded by the same revolutionary government.

The Soviet Union made extensive use of the term until 1956, notably Stalin, who used it to describe anybody critical of himself personally.

It is routinely used by authoritarian rulers, and since early 2017 it has been used on multiple occasions by US President Donald Trump to refer to news organizations and journalists who he perceives as critical of and biased against him.

Draco (Dreɪkoʊ; Greek: Δράκων, Drakōn; 7th century BC), also called Drako or Drakon, was the first recorded legislator of Athens in Ancient Greece. He replaced the prevailing system of oral law and blood feud by a written code to be enforced only by a court of law. Draco was the first democratic legislator, requested by the Athenian citizens to be a lawgiver for the city-state, but the citizens were fully unaware that Draco would establish laws characterized by their harshness. Since the 19th century, the adjective draconian (Greek: δρακόντειος drakónteios) refers to unforgiving punishment to those who have broken minor rules or laws.

Answer: B. No

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. — Benjamin Franklin

Top 10 Largest Beer Companies and Beer Brands in the World 2020:

1) Anheuser-Busch InBev: Despite the predictions about the global and American beer market continuing to lose ground to spirits, wine and marijuana, the bigger beer manufacturers have surprisingly reported strong growth and earnings in 2018. Anheuser-Busch InBev, based in Belgium, has surpassed growth expectations compared to its competitors and consequently sits atop the global beer market, making it one of the largest beer companies in the world. Although sales of its flagship beer brands Bud Light and Budweiser continue to drop, AB InBev’s acquisition of SABMiller recently combined with earlier rights to Corona and Stella Artois has boosted its value globally. The brewer distributes its product portfolio of 500 beer brands through a massive network of over 600 independent company-owned distributors and wholesalers nationwide.



2) Heineken: Dutch-based beer brand Heineken has been a global brewing leader for the last 150 years. Today, as the No. 2 brewer in the world and No. 1 in Europe, the company is ramping up production via the use of advanced and breakthrough technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence (AI). Heineken sells more than 8.5 million barrels of its beer brands in the U.S and expects those numbers to increase with data-driven developments and AI augmentation to its operations, advertising, and customer experience. Founded in 1864, the company owns over 160 breweries in more than 70 countries as. Heineken produces regional, local, international and specialty beers and ciders. The company’s international beer brands include Amstel, Desperados, Sol, Affligem, Tiger, Tecate, Red Stripe and Krušovice.

3) China Resources Snow Breweries: Headquartered in Hong Kong, China Resources’ beer business is well known for its “Snow” beverage, accounting for about 20% of the Chinese beer market. One of its flagship beer brands, Snow is now one of the top-selling beer brands in the world. Although a lead in the domestic beer market, China Resources’ beer portfolio is little known elsewhere. As of 2017, it operates 98 breweries in 25 provinces, administered municipalities, and autonomous regions in Mainland China with an annual production capacity of more than 20 million kiloliters. China Resources Snow Breweries was a joint venture between SABMiller and China Resources Enterprise. However, after the former’s acquisition by Anheuser Busch InBev, China Resources bought out the remaining stake.



4) Carlsberg: Founded in 1847 by J.C. Jacobsen, Carlsberg is one of the leading international brewery groups in the world today, with a vast portfolio of beer and other beverage brands. Since the 1990s, Carlsberg has been achieving steady but modest growth in sales and profits, despite an intensely competitive beer market. In March 2016, the Carlsberg Group introduced its new strategy, SAIL’22, to set a new direction for the Group with a significant focus on its core beer business and distinct areas for future progress. Once a big beer brand with a small corporate footprint, Carlsberg Group has become the world’s fourth-largest beer company within the past two decades, acquiring other small beer brands such as Kronenbourg. The company now operates 140 beer brands worldwide.

5) Molson Coors Brewing: Incorporated in 2003, Molson Coors is a leading global brewer with 31 breweries, selling its diverse portfolio of over 90 strategic and partner brands in more than 50 countries. The company has a strong presence and brand momentum in three of the world’s largest markets. It is the second-largest beer company in the US by way of MillerCoors and SABMiller, a leading brewer in Canada via Molson Coors Canada, and a top-tier brewer in the UK and Central Europe through Molson Coors Europe. Long-time adversaries, US-based Molson Coors and UK-based SABMiller put aside their differences to merge their operations in the US and Puerto Rico in a joint venture, MillerCoors. MCBC continues to follow a growth strategy that includes building a stronger brand portfolio, growing the market share among its core brands, delivering value-added innovation, and growing its business in the premium, craft, and cider markets.

6) Tsingtao Brewery Group: Tsingtao Beer, one of China’s oldest beer companies, is gaining immense popularity around the world and has been successful in establishing a high-end Chinese beer brand image worldwide. With a history 115 years long, the Qingdao-based brewer has been selling its products in more than 100 countries. Its Western Europe sales grew 8% last year, while sales in the overseas market increased by 12%.  As per the Centre of International Communication Studies, Tsingtao has acquired over 90% brand recognition in several developed countries in Europe and North America. This beer brand is developing more and more customized products to meet the growing demands of different customers, including beverages brewed with dates and peaches. Tsingtao is looking forward to experimenting with new tastes and varieties through co-operation with its European partners. Tsingtao adheres to a “high-quality, high-visibility and high-price” strategy.



7) Asahi: Founded in 1889 in Osaka as the Osaka Beer Company, Asahi Breweries kept the No. 1 position in sales volume in Japan for twelve straight years after it launched Asahi Super Dry, Japan’s first dry draft beer. The company, celebrating its 128th anniversary, produces a wide variety of beer products and other alcoholic beverages to meet the varied needs of its customers. The Asahi Breweries Group is expanding its business to products beyond just alcohol, including foods and pharmaceuticals. Asahi Breweries is reaping the benefits after strengthening its foothold in the European marketplace. It did this by acquiring beer brands that raised its status to one of the five biggest brewers in Asia. As demand for beer products wane at home and local competition with rivals like Kirin Holdings Co. intensifies, Asahi is stepping up to expand overseas.

8) Yanjing: Beijing Yanjing Beer Group, a China-based beer company, started off as Yanjing Brewery before consolidating into a group of companies that is categorized by the state, and is known for its top-quality beer products. Beijing Yanjing Beer is currently the country’s fourth most popular beer brand, and one of the world’s largest beer companies. The company distributes its vast product portfolio, which includes beer, distilled wine, feed, materials, yeast, plastic boxes, and mineral water under the brands Liquan, Huiguan, Yanjing, and Xuelu. Yanjing mainly targets the domestic market, particularly South China and North China.

9) Kirin: Japan-based Kirin is one of the largest producers of beverages, and its subsidiary Kirin Brewery Company is one of the largest beer brands in the world. The company holds a stake in Myanmar Brewery Limited as well as Asia Pacific Breweries and owns Kirin Europe, Kirin Brewery of America, Philippine-based San Miguel Brewery, and other subsidiaries. In Japan, the company’s Ichiban Shibori and Kirin Lager are well-known beer brands, while its Kirin Tanrei is a popular low-malt beer.

10) Groupe Castel: The Castel Group was founded in 1949. For over six decades, the company has devoted its skills and energy to spreading the word about French wines globally, and developing its soft drink and beer sectors in Africa. Castel is a globally recognized beverage name and one of the world’s largest beer companies, symbolized by a wide range of acclaimed Châteaux and brands, and with an established presence in over 130 countries. The  majority of Groupe Castel beer products are produced in Africa, where it expanded in 1990 with the purchase of Brasseries et Glacières Internationales (BGI). Flag and Castel are its most popular and enduring beer brands.

View more information about the top beer companies in the world, @ Global Beer Market Report Sample for FREE!

Answer: C. Hang ‘Em High


I use realistic sounds in a psychological way. With ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,’ I used animal sounds – as you say, the coyote sound – so the sound of the animal became the main theme of the movie. – Ennio Morricone


Morricone died this month at age 91. He was easily regarded as the most innovative and irreverent composer of film scores for decades. Best known for his collaborations with director Sergio Leone on his Spaghetti Westerns, Morricone scored approximately 500 films, working with a who’s who of landmark directors: Bernardo Bertolucci, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Terrence Malick, John Carpenter, Quentin Tarantino and many more.

Answer: B. Wilt Chamberlain



You must understand as a kid of color in those days, the Harlem Globetrotters were like being movie stars. – Wilt Chamberlain

Wilt Chamberlain: 1936–1999

Wilt Chamberlain was the first NBA player to score more than 30,000 cumulative points over his career, and the first and only player to score 100 points in a single game.

Known as "Wilt the Stilt" for his 7'1" frame, Wilt Chamberlain was a Harlem Globetrotter before joining the Philadelphia Warriors. He achieved an average of 30.1 points per game over his career and holds several records, including for most points scored in one season (4,029) and most points scored in a single game (100). Chamberlain was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978. He died in Bel-Air, California, in 1999.

Wilton Norman Chamberlain was born on August 21, 1936, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Chamberlain was regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time as the first NBA player to score more than 30,000 points during his professional career.

Chamberlain was a standout player at Overbrook High School in Philadelphia. He played on the school's varsity team for three years, scoring more than 2,200 points in total. Standing at 6'11" tall at the time, Chamberlain physically dominated other players. He eventually reached his full height of a staggering 7'1" tall. Many of his nicknames were derived from his stature. He hated being called "Wilt the Stilt," or "the Stilt," which came from a local reporter covering high school athletics. But Chamberlain didn't mind "The Big Dipper," or "Dipper," a nickname given to him by friends because he had to duck his head when passing through a doorframe.

When it came time for college, Chamberlain was sought after by many top college basketball teams. He chose to attend the University of Kansas, making his college basketball debut in 1956 with the Jayhawks, and leading the team to the NCAA finals in 1957. The Jayhawks were defeated by North Carolina, but Chamberlain was named "Most Outstanding Player" of the tournament. Continuing to excel, he made the all-America and all-conference teams the following season.



Leaving college in 1958, Chamberlain had to wait a year before going pro due to NBA rules. He chose to spend the next season performing with the Harlem Globetrotters before landing a spot with the Philadelphia Warriors. In 1959, Chamberlain played his first professional game in New York City against the Knicks, scoring 43 points. His impressive debut season netted him several prestigious honors, including the NBA Rookie of the Year and NBA Most Valuable Player awards. Also during this season, Chamberlain began his rivalry with Celtics defensive star Bill Russell. The two were fierce competitors on the court, but they developed a friendship away from the game.



Chamberlain's most famous season, however, came in 1962. That March, he became the first NBA player to score 100 points in a game, setting a league record for the highest number of points scored in a single game (which he still holds today). By season's end, Chamberlain racked up more than 4,000 points — becoming the first NBA player to do so — scoring an average of 50.4 points per game. At the top of his game, Chamberlain was selected for the All-NBA first team for three consecutive years: 1960, 1961 and 1962.

Chamberlain stayed with the Warriors as they moved out to San Francisco in 1962. He continued to play well, averaging more than 44 points per game for the 1962-63 season and almost 37 points per game for the 1963-64 season. Returning to his hometown in 1965, Chamberlain joined the Philadelphia 76ers. There he helped his team score an NBA championship win over his former team. Along the way to the championship, he also assisted the Sixers in defeating the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Division Finals. The Celtics were knocked out of the running after eight consecutive championship wins. Crowds gathered to watch the latest match between two top center players: Chamberlain and Bill Russell.



Traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1968, Chamberlain again proved that he was a competitive and successful athlete. He helped the Lakers win the 1972 NBA championship, triumphing over the New York Knicks in five straight games, and was named the NBA Finals MVP.

By the time he retired in 1973, Chamberlain had amassed an amazing array of career statistics. He had played in 1,045 games and achieved an average of 30.1 points per game — the NBA points-per-game record until Michael Jordan broke it in 1998. To this day, Additionally, Chamberlain remains notable for never fouling out of an NBA game.

After his retirement, Chamberlain explored other opportunities. He published his autobiography, Wilt: Just Like Any Other 7-Foot Black Millionaire Who Lives Next Door, in 1973. He tried coaching for a time, and was a popular pitchman for commercials. Chamberlain later branched out in acting, appearing in the 1984 action film Conan the Destroyer with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Still, his feats as a player were not forgotten. In 1978, Chamberlain was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. He was named one of the top all-time 50 NBA players in 1996. In 1991, Chamberlain claimed another, more unusual distinction, when he wrote in his book A View from Above that he had slept with more than 20,000 women during his lifetime.

Chamberlain died of heart failure on October 12, 1999, at his Los Angeles home. He once said that "no one cheered for Goliath," but the response to his passing proved that to be false. "Wilt was one of the greatest ever, and we will never see another like him," said basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. His former rival Bill Russell told the press that "he and I will be friends through eternity."

Answer: A. Union General William Tecumseh Sherman’s attack on Atlanta commenced on a Friday, July 22, 1864.



War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it. — General William Tecumseh Sherman

The Battle of Atlanta was a battle of the Atlanta Campaign fought during the American Civil War on July 22, 1864, just southeast of Atlanta, Georgia. Continuing their summer campaign to seize the important rail and supply center of Atlanta, Union forces commanded by William Tecumseh Sherman overwhelmed and defeated Confederate forces defending the city under John Bell Hood.

Answer: A. John Lennon


You don’t need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are! – John Lennon

Answer: B. Great Smoky Mountains

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park averages 11,421,200 visitors per year

America's 10 Most Popular National Parks, ranked

1. Great Smokey Mountains

2. Grand Canyon

3. Rocky Mountain

4. Zion

5. Yellowstone

6. Yosemite

7. Acadia

8. Grand Teton

9. Olympics

10. Glacier

— National Geographic

Answer: A. Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria

George (who is Elizabeth II’s paternal grandfather) was Queen Victoria’s grandson through her son King Edward VII and his wife Alexandra of Denmark. Alexandra’s younger sister was Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, whose oldest child was Emperor Nicholas II. Since George and Nicholas’ mothers were sisters, they were first cousins. During the Russian Revolution, Nicholas II pleaded for refuge in England, but was denied by King George, out of the fear of the spread of Bolshevism, despite Nicholas II’s stance against it.

Edward VII’s oldest sister was Empress Victoria of Germany and her oldest child was the Kaiser Wilhelm II. Since George’s father and Wilhelm’s mother were also siblings, they were first cousins. Nicholas II was a more distant cousin of Wilhelm’s. He was the great grandson of Emperor Nicholas I and a Prussian Princess.

Answer: A. Hawaii

Hawaii’s plantation era is over, but Spam’s still a local darling, a reminder of a different time. On the islands, there’s no shame in eating Spam. On the contrary, you’re kind of weird if you don’t like it. Hawaii consumes more Spam per capita than any other state, with five cans eaten per person per year — about 7 million cans total — according to Nicole L. Behne, a Spam senior product manager.

Hawaii is the only part of the country that fully appreciates Spam’s, where the canned meat is served and loved everywhere from fast-food restaurants to an annual “Spam Jam” street festival. Spam might not seem like a traditional island food, but Hawaiians know a good thing when they see it, and Spam has been a Hawaiian favorite for almost as long as the iconic canned meat has existed.

After the war, Spam remained a practical source of nourishment for Hawaii’s mid-20^th-century sugar and pineapple plantation workers because it didn’t need to be refrigerated and could sit out in the sun in a lunch pail without rotting. It was a common food among Hawaii’s Japanese, Chinese, Korean Filipino, Portuguese, and Puerto Rican workers — an edible analog to Hawaiian Creole English, the shared dialect that had developed decades earlier. Plus, salty Spam was the perfect complement to rice, a staple of the Hawaiian diet, and a cheap way to get meat on the table in a state with a high cost of living.

Spam hit grocery shelves in 1937, distinguishing itself from other brands of ready-to-eat canned ham with a clutchable can size and relatively short ingredient list. (Ironically, given its current reputation, Spam was intended to be a higher-quality alternative to the other tinned mystery meats on the market.) When war broke out a few years later, the U.S. military distributed it to GIs since it was inexpensive and filling, didn’t spoil, and shipped easily. “For every soldier who swore he would never eat Spam again and stuck to it, there seemed to be two who became Spam customers as a result of being introduced to it during the war,” writes Carol Wyman in Spam: A Biography. Meanwhile, on the home front, consumers, otherwise mostly meat-deprived, could use their ration stamps to buy Spam on a limited basis. In a Hawaii, which was geographically isolated and faced food shipping interruptions during the war, Spam was a godsend, says Arnold Hiura, a food historian and author of Kau Kau: Cuisine & Culture in the Hawaiian Islands.

Answer: B. Seoul, Korea

Although Starbucks Corporation was founded in the US, only three of its cities rank among the top ten cities with the most Starbucks. Seattle, the founding place of Starbucks has 142 stores, ranking it in position eighth. New York City has the highest number of stores in the US (277), only second to Seoul that has 284 stores. The prominence of coffee shops in Seoul does not come as much of a surprise, as coffee is a popular drink in Korean culture. Starbuck Coffee Korea Corporation which operates the Starbuck stores in Seoul is a joint venture between Starbucks Corporation and Shinsegae.

Answer: A. China

Gunpowder was invented in 9th-century China, attributed to experimentation in Chinese alchemy by Taoists in the pursuit of immortality, and is listed as one of the "Four Great Inventions" of China. Gunpowder was first used for warfare about 904 A.D. by the reigning Sung dynasty against the Mongols, whose constant invasions into the country plagued the Chinese. The Mongols were the first to be subjected to flying fire — an arrow fixed with a tube of gunpowder that ignited and would propel itself across enemy lines. More gunpowder-based weapons were invented by the Chinese in the next centuries, including the first cannons and grenades. Chinese innovation actually included a rife made of bamboo. Gunpowder spread via the Silk Road and eventually to Europe where it changed warfare forever.

ANSWER: D. Tomatoes

Tomatoes

Although tomatoes are considered as a vegetable in many culinary communities, they are classified as a fruit by botanical/scientific descriptors of fruits and vegetables. By that description, tomatoes hold the title for the world’s most consumed fruit! In fact, tomatoes are considered a must-have in most households around the world. The annual production of tomatoes stands at 170.75 million metric tons. Tomatoes are produced through normal farming, but mostly through irrigation and greenhouses. Tomatoes can be consumed raw or cooked. In addition, several metric tons of tomatoes are processed to form sauces, most of which are used to make pizza (San Marzano tomatoes in Italy) and pasta.

Bananas

The banana is almost everyone’s darling across the world. The annual consumption of bananas stands at 114.13 million metric tons. They are mostly consumed ripe in most parts of the world. However, raw bananas are also cooked in some parts of the world. Bananas are also used to make flavors that are used to bake cakes. They are a preferred fruit because of their availability all year round and their high nutritional value.

Watermelons

Annual consumption of watermelon in the world is at 111 million metric tons. Watermelons are readily available in most parts of the world, even in dry area where most fruits would not thrive. Watermelons grow well in mild conditions and only take a few months to mature. Besides, as cultivating watermelon is less labor intensive than other fruits, farmers prefer it over other crops. The watermelon's sweetness and nutritional value make it among the most preferred fruits.

Apples

An apple a day keeps the doctor away, they say. Apple is the fourth most consumed fruit in the world with an annual consumption of approximately 84.63 million metric tons. Apples are not produced in most parts of the world. However, the top world’s producers like China, the US, Turkey, and Poland export their surplus production to the countries whose production cannot sustain the consumption demand. Apples are preferred for their nutritional value. They can be consumed raw or cooked, or as apple juice. Apples are also good antioxidants.

Grapefruits

Grapefruits are the fifth most consumed fruit in the world. The annual world’s consumption of grapefruits stands at 83.97 million metric tons. The nutritional value of grapefruit makes it among the topmost consumed fruits. It is rich in vitamin C. Besides nutritional value, grapefruits are also consumed in most parts of the world due to their medicinal properties. Grapefruit can be consumed as a fruit or as a juice.

ANSWER: E. Sweden

1. Sweden - 221,800

Sweden has an estimated total of 221,800 islands, the majority of which are not inhabited. This number means that Sweden most likely has more islands than anywhere else in the world. Even the capital of the country, Stockholm, is an archipelago of fourteen islands connected with over 50 bridges and also has the medieval town of Gamla Stan, museums, and royal palaces. The island of Öland has well-maintained beaches, a castle, and structures that date 5,000 years back, thus making the island a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Other islands offer good sites for swimming, fishing, and other water sports.

2. Finland - 188,000

The Finnish Tourism Board acknowledges that the country has 179,584 islands, 98,050 of which are within the 188,000 lakes of the country. Only 455 of these islands have permanent settlements and use waterway connections to the mainland as they do not have connective road services. Over 700 are relatively large, with more than 0.39 square miles in area, and have road connections to the mainland. The other tens of thousands serve recreation, expedition, research, or other purposes. Various facilities are available to visitors including horse riding, kayaking, and fishing, among many others.

3. Norway - 55,000

The northern European country of Norway has over 55,000 islands. In fact, there are so many islands that it is hard to calculate exactly how long the coastline of Norway is, with estimates ranging anywhere from 25,000 km to 83,000 km. The largest island in Norway is Spitsbergen, the only inhabited island in Svalbard.

4. Canada - 52,455

According to Statistics Canada, Canada has 52,455 islands within its borders. The largest of them is Baffin Island which covers 195,927.93 square miles. Around 30,000 islands are within Georgian Bay making them one of the largest archipelago in fresh waters. A total of 1,864 islands are in the Saint Lawrence River. Canada has named 129 island groups and 1,016 islands of which 250 are uninhabited. Of the total, seventeen islands have more than 3861.02 square miles of area. To the north of mainland Canada, there is the Canadian Archipelago within which the Queen Elizabeth Islands and Manitoulin Island lay. Manitoulin Island is the biggest freshwater island in the world and has 17 lakes on it which in turn have smaller islands.

5. Indonesia - 17,508

The Republic of Indonesia is an archipelago of mostly volcanic islands located in Southeast Asia with some territories in Oceania. The CIA World Factbook estimates that there are 17,508 islands in the country. Indonesia is the 14th largest country in the world by land area. Major islands in Indonesia include the Malaku and Sunda groups of islands. The Sunda Islands host the island of Java on which the capital, Jakarta, lies. Indonesian islands are popular for their unique beaches, volcanoes, prehistoric items, limestone cliffs, and rich wildlife including forests, elephants, tigers and many others. The wildlife and culture of Indonesia make it among the top tourist destinations on the planet.

ANSWER: D. Benito Mussolini

An important point of difference between Italian Fascist Benito Mussolini and Nazi Adolf Hitler were their racial views. Mussolini, like Hitler, considered white Europeans to be the architects of civilization and culture – but his views on race did not extend to hateful anti-Semitism or eugenics. Mussolini was an Italian nationalist who often harked back to the glory and triumphs of ancient Rome. He was therefore scornful of Hitler’s rants about Aryan supremacy. In one speech, the Italian leader expressed "pity" for the racial views being expressed by the Nazis; in comparison he championed, "the descendants of those who were illiterate when Rome had Caesar, Virgil and Augustus."



Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin’s 1883 work on evolution and eugenics encouraged societies to promote marriage between only the fittest of individuals; in other words, no race mixing. According to a leading eugenicist of that time, Caucasians were considered the very best race, and other races were secondary. The theory of eugenics is based on the bizarre notion that mankind’s good gene pool (white race) was shrinking. Bad genes were multiplying faster than good ones, according to its science. According to its supporters, the shrinking pool of good genes was not totally due to race mixing; it was also a result of mixing good genes with those of inferior heredity – misfits, mentally handicapped, criminals, and others. In reality, there was no science, and eugenics was really a twisted social program with the intent of ridding the universe of what its supporters felt were inferior people. The eugenics movement influenced many of the brightest minds in the world, including Woodrow Wilson, Winston Churchill, Alexander Graham Bell, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Oliver Wendell Holmes, Theodore Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler.

Woodrow Wilson

Perhaps the deeply religious Woodrow Wilson missed the Bible lesson (Genesis: 1:27) that said, "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God." Wilson whole-heartedly believed in the science of eugenics. Eugenics was a field of science created for one and only one purpose: to  legitimize racist beliefs. Wilson used his political power to enact laws that turned his beliefs about race and eugenics into legislation. In 1907, Woodrow Wilson campaigned in Indiana for the compulsory sterilization of criminals and the mentally retarded; and in 1907, a new law passed in Indiana for the involuntary sterilization of "confirmed criminals, idiots, imbeciles and rapists." About 2500 sterilizations were carried out in the state. Although it was eventually found to be unconstitutional, this law is widely regarded as the first eugenics sterilization legislation passed in the world.

Churchill and the Sterilization Issue

Despite Winston Churchill’s carefully orchestrated image as the man who stood alone against Nazi Germany, he shared one thing in common with his World War II foes: an enthusiasm for eugenics. As the Home Secretary in 1910, Churchill asked officials to consider sterilizing and preventing the marriage of people with mental illnesses and learning disabilities. He was also in favor of the confinement and segregation of a class of persons contemporarily described as the "feeble minded." "The multiplication of the feeble-minded is a very terrible danger to the race," he wrote in a memo to the Prime Minister. A year later, he argued in Parliament for the introduction of forced labor camps for "mental defectives." Churchill believed that eugenics could solve race deterioration and reduce crime and poverty. He maintained that if fewer 'feebleminded' individuals were born, less crime would take place.

Churchill’s views were reinforced by his experiences as a young British officer serving and fighting in Arab and Muslim lands, and in South Africa. He regarded races as different, racial characteristics as signs of the maturity of a society, and racial purity as endangered not only by other races but by mental weaknesses within a race. As a young politician in Britain entering Parliament in 1901, Churchill saw what were then known as the "feeble-minded" and the "insane" as a threat to the prosperity, vigor and virility of British society.

Eugenics and Sterilization in Nazi Germany

In organizing their eugenics program, the Nazis were inspired by the United States' programs of forced sterilization, especially on the eugenics laws enacted in Indiana. In 1933, the new Nazi  Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring allowed the compulsory sterilization of any citizen who according to the opinion of a "Genetic Health Court" suffered from a list of alleged genetic disorders and required physicians to register every case of hereditary illness. By 1945, the Nazis had sterilized an estimated 300,000 to 450,000 people. Some of these people soon after their sterilization became victims of the Nazi euthanasia program. Those who did survive were forced to live with the loss of rights and invasion of their persons as well as a future of knowing that they would never be able to have children.

ANSWER: D. Joni Mitchell

Stuttering affects people of all ages and of all walks of life. People who stutter often think they’re alone and become embarrassed by their speech impediments. However, the truth is that they are not alone and that many people are affected by stuttering. Even people that we look up to and see on television have had issues in the past or even currently have difficulty with stuttering. We hope that these individuals inspire you to know you are not alone in the struggle and can overcome this speech adversity.

Aristotle: considered in the ancient world as having a 'malfunction tongue.'

King George VI: struggled to overcome a severe stammer that had stayed with him since childhood. Even through this adversity, King George VI was able to deliver an inspiring live radio address on September 3, 1939, as Britain entered World War II.

Nat King Cole: in an interview, Cole biographer, Daniel Epstein states that Cole had a stutter as a child and a bit of a lisp which you can hear in the early recordings in his career.

James Earl Jones: as a child, had difficulties with articulating his words and had a stammer that lasted until he was in high school. In high school, a teacher made him recite poetry in front of the class, which lead to worldwide esteem as stage and screen actor.

ANSWER: C. William Howard Taft

The Obese Presidents Club

President	BMI	Weight
William Howard Taft	42.3	332 lb.
Grover Cleveland	34.6	275 lb.
William McKinley	31.1	233 lb.
Zachary Taylor	30.2	230 lb.
Donald Trump*	30.0	245 lb.

*Though some members of the medical community suspect his weight at 285 lbs.

Bonus Question: Name the tallest U.S. Presidents.

A. Thomas Jefferson

B. Lyndon Johnson

C. Abraham Lincoln

D. Franklin D. Roosevelt

E. Barack Obama

F. Donald Trump

Answer: C: Abraham Lincoln; 6' 4"

Four-way tie: George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton; each at 6' 2"

The 6' 1" Donald Trump claims to be 6' 3" (1.91m) due to fear of being listed as morbidly obese. Plus some insider doctors suspect his weight is 285 lbs.

Abraham Lincoln	6' 4'' / 1.93 m
Lyndon Johnson	6' 3'' / 1.91 m
Thomas Jefferson	6' 2.5'' / 1.89 m
Franklin D. Roosevelt	6' 2'' / 1.88 m
George Washington	6' 2'' / 1.88 m
George H.W. Bush	6' 2'' / 1.88 m
Bill Clinton	6' 2'' / 1.88 m
Andrew Jackson	6' 1'' / 1.85 m
Chester Arthur	6' 1'' / 1.85 m
Ronald Reagan	6' 1'' / 1.85 m
Barack Obama	6' 1'' / 1.85 m
Donald Trump	6' 1'' / 1.85 m

ANSWER: D. Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia

King Ibn Saud headed a polygamous household with twenty-two wives and concubines. He fathered all of the subsequent Kings of Saudi Arabia, which  included 45 sons and 55 daughters.

The King of Saudi Arabia is Saudi Arabia's absolute monarch who serves as head of state and head of government. He is the head of the Saudi royal family, the House of Saud. The King is called the "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques", a title that signifies Saudi Arabia's jurisdiction over the mosques of Masjid al Haram in Mecca and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina, and replaced "His Majesty" in 1986.

Abdulaziz ibn Abdul Rahman ibn Faisal ibn Turki ibn Abdullah ibn Muhammad Al Saud (1875 –1953), known in the West as Ibn Saud, was the first monarch  and founder of Saudi Arabia the "third Saudi state." He ruled from 1932 to 1953. He reconquered his family's ancestral home city of Riyadh in 1902, starting three decades of conquests that made him the ruler of nearly all of central and north Arabia. He extended his dominions into what later became the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. As King, he presided over the discovery of petroleum in Saudi Arabia, first discovered in 1938 by American geologists working for Standard Oil Company of New York. Ibn Saud granted substantial authority over Saudi oil fields to American oil companies in 1944, leading to the beginning of large-scale oil production after World War II.

His newfound oil wealth brought with it a great deal of power and influence that he would use to his advantage. He forced many nomadic tribes to settle down and abandoned petty wars and vendettas. He also began widespread enforcement of the teachings of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. With his rivals eliminated in the 1930s, Ibn Saud's ideology was in full force, and his sons continue to reign today.

ANSWER: C. Pointillism


Picasso's major stylistic phases as described by a variety of Picasso scholars, writers and critics:

1. Blue Period (1903-5). Sad, gaunt people in gloomy settings, and then circus and harlequin subjects. The predominant color is a melancholy blue. Example: "Harleqins family" 1906.

2. Rose Period (1905-6). Romantic, delicately treated subjects in pale pink. Example: "The two brothers" 1906.
3. Cubism (1907-25, includes the Proto-Cubist, Analytical and Synthetic Periods). Natural forms were changed to geometric-like shapes. Distortion and multi-view figures in mainly dull colors. Examples: "Guitar" 1913, "Three Musicians" 1921.
4. Neo-Classicism (1920-30). Heavily-built sculpturesque Grecian women. Example: "Three Woman at the spring" 1921.
5. Surrealism (1926 onwards). Dream-world compositions. Example: "Drawing for Guernica" 1937.
6. A style reminiscent of stained glass (1932 onwards). Grotesque conventionalized and disjointed forms outlined with thick black lines. Examples: "Interior with girl drawing" 1935.
7. A style with strong expressionist elements (1938 onwards). Subjects that anticipate the terror of war and reveal the conflict in his mind. Double images and extreme distortion. Example: "Two women by the sea."

Even when his Cubist paintings bear a resemblance to objects, we must not look for realism in the usual way, but we should aim at deriving satisfaction from the patterned compositions of fragmentary and overlapping shapes. Sometimes we wonder what an object or a head looks like on the other side and we walk around to see. Certain paintings of Picasso's show both the front and the side of a person or object. The painting "Three Musicians'' is often referred to as the last great work of Cubism.

Picasso reached world-wide fame later in his life. Whenever given a bill to pay for something, he always wrote a check. He had had noticed that the recipients would often not cash the check for his signature was worth more value than the monetary amount on the check.

ANSWER: B. Juno

The Normandy Beaches:

Gold: Britain

Juno: Canada

Omaha: U.S.

Sword: Britain (with a small force of Free France)

Utah: U.S.


The 1944 Battle of Normandy D-Day landings on June  6 was one of the pivotal events of the Second World War and the scene of some of Canada's greatest feats of arms. Canadian sailors, soldiers and airmen played a critical role in the Allied invasion of Normandy, also called Operation Overlord, beginning the bloody campaign to liberate Western Europe from Nazi occupation. Nearly 150,000 Allied troops landed or parachuted into the invasion area on D-Day, including 14,000 Canadians at Juno Beach. The Royal Canadian Navy contributed 110 ships and 10,000 sailors, while and the RCAF commissioned 15 fighter and fighter-bomber squadrons to the assault.

The Canadians suffered 340 dead, 574 wounded, and 47 captured on D-day at Juno. There were also 243 British Army casualties in the Juno sector.

15,00 French civilians died in the campaign due to Allied bombings and actions of Allied and German ground forces.

ANSWER: D. Mount Pinatubo – The Philippines

The second-largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century, and by far the largest eruption to affect a densely populated area, occurred at Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines on June 15, 1991. The eruption produced high-speed avalanches of hot ash and gas, giant mudflows, and a cloud of volcanic ash that spread for hundreds for miles. Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Base were forced to shut down, removing American military forces from the Philippines permanently.


Oher major volcanoes:

• Mount Vesuvius
• Krakatoa
• Mount St. Helens
• Mount Tambora
• Mauna Loa
• Eyjafjallajokull
• Mount Pelée
• Thera
• Nevado del Ruiz

ANSWER: D. Ringo Starr

Ringo Starr is a left-handed drummer who plays a right-handed drum kit, leading to his remarkable and underrated drumming style. During Beatle recording sessions, John and Paul instructed him to ‘never get in the way of the song,’ which made numerous Beatle listeners dismiss him as a drummer with a simple style. Many drummers have attempted to emulate his stunning drum style, but generally fail.

ANSWER: C. Hue

Located on the banks of the Perfume River, Huế is a city in central Vietnam that was the capital of Đàng Trong from 1738 to 1775 and of the Nguyen Dynasty from 1802 to 1945. Its vast, 19th-century citadel is surrounded by a moat and thick stone walls. It encompasses the Imperial City, with palaces and shrines. Much of Huế was destroyed by U.S. bombers during the last stages in what is called in Vietnam, “The American War” (1955 to 1973), but the Imperial Palace remains.

ANSWER: C. France

About one-third of all English words are derived directly or indirectly from French, and it's estimated that English speakers who have never studied French already know 15,000 French words. There are more than 1,700 true cognates, words that are identical in the two languages.

When William the Conqueror led the Norman conquest of England in 1066, he and the other invaders spoke “Old Norman,” also known as "Old Northern French." This developed into the unique dialect, “Anglo-Norman” or “Anglo-French,” which was spoken by royalty, aristocrats, officials - some of whom couldn’t speak English at all. It soon spread to the growing bourgeoisie. The royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom still features in French the mottos of both the British Monarch, Dieu et mon droit ("God and my right"), and the Order of the Garter, Honi soit qui mal y pense ("Shamed be he who thinks evil of it"). Dieu et mon droit was first used by Richard I (who spoke French but not English) in 1198 and adopted as the royal motto of England in the time of Henry VI.  Thousands of French words entered the English language, and have been used widely enough to influence English vocabulary permanently.

ANSWER: A. Commissar for Soviet Union Foreign Affairs

The name "Molotov cocktail" is derived from Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union. They were used for the first time in the Spanish Civil War between July 1936 and April 1939, before they became known as "Molotov cocktails." To be honest, not really sure why it’s Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov.

A Molotov cocktail consists of a glass bottle partly filled with a flammable liquid. The liquid will typically be gasoline, alcohol, methanol or ethanol. The mouth of the bottle is closed with a cork or other type of tight sealing made of rubber, glass, or plastic, and a cloth rag is fixed securely around the mouth. The weapon is used by first soaking the rag in a flammable liquid immediately before using it, lighting the rag, and throwing the bottle at the target. The bottle breaks when it lands, spilling the flammable liquid over the target, which is then ignited by the burning rag.

ANSWER: A. Dersu Uzala

Along with Yasujiro Ozu and Kenji Mizoguchi; Akira Kurosawa (1910–1998) remains one of the world’s  most famous film directors. He was responsible for introducing Japanese cinema to the rest of the world in 1951, with Rashomon, his first of many films to star Toshiro Mifune. Kurosawa proved to be accessible to the western world due to the influence of films by John Ford and Orson Welles, Shakespeare and Russian literature. He followed Rashomon with countless masterpieces, that included Seven Samurai and Yojimbo, which were remade into a number of Hollywood westerns. George Lucas has said that his film Star Wars was inspired by Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress.  Italian director, Sergio Leone, virtually copied Yojimbo in Fistful of Dollars, the first installment of his Spaghetti Western trilogy, but soon evolved with a unique style of his own. As Kurosawa slid into the 1970s, his  almost experimental film, Dodes'ka-den, was a box office disaster. Concerned about his growing age and ‘assumed’ lack of mental facilities, Kurosawa faced a Japanese film industry that no longer wanted to finance his films. After a failed suicide attempt, Mosfilm Studios in the Soviet Union invited him to Russia to make a film based on any Russian novel of his choice that would promote Siberia. Kurosawa had longed to film Vladimir Arsenyev’s novel, Dersu Uzala, ("Dersu, okhotnik") and Mosfilm agreed to finance a two-year filmmaking expedition into the far reaches of Siberia. The narrative of Dersu Uzala is about an eccentric Mongolian frontiersman (Maxim Manzuk) who is taken on as a guide by a Russian surveying crew in Siberia. While the soldiers initially perceive Dersu as a naïve and comical relic of an uncivilized age, he quickly proves himself otherwise with displays of ingenuity and bravery, unmatched by any member of the inexperienced mapping team. More than once he would become their unlikely savior. The narrative is seen through the eyes of a sympathetic Russian captain (Yuri Solomin), who tenderly observes the hunter’s physical and spiritual decline, with the gradual disappearance of the wilderness itself — replaced by a civilized world that has no room for the past. Dersu Uzala film went on to grab the 1976 Academy Award for best foreign-language film. Kurosawa returned to Japan, where suddenly he was bankable again. He followed with two more masterpieces: Kagemusha and Ran; and later, a few minor films that received warm critical praise.

ANSWER: E. Bill Wyman

Core Rolling Stone members – Jones, Jagger & Richards – hired bassist Wyman due to his ownership of a Vox amplifier, with the plan of ‘separating him from it.’ They felt he did not fit into the carefully orchestrated Rolling Stone image: he was older (by their young standards) married, full time dead end job in South London, and not particularly talented on his instrument. Richards, in his autography, said that Wyman eventually improved his bass guitar playing, though he would occasionally play the bass part in recording sessions himself. Wyman left the Stones on his own in 1993. For the band, leaving the Rolling Stones was akin to treason, and they would give him the cold shoulder in his post-Rolling Stone life.

ANSWER: E. United States

On April 29, 1945, the U.S. Seventh Army liberated 32,000 prisoners at the Nazi regime's Dachau concentration camp.

Only five weeks after Hitler took power as German chancellor in 1933, Dachau became Nazi Germany’s first concentration camp. It has the sad distinction as the concentration camp that was in operation the longest, nearly all twelve years of the Nazi regime.  It is located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory northeast of the medieval town of Dachau, about 10 miles northwest of Munich in the southern Germany state of Bavaria. Dachau's close proximity to Munich, where Hitler came to power and where the Nazi Party had its official headquarters, made Dachau a convenient location. From 1933 to 1938, the prisoners were primarily German nationals: communists, leading socialists and Christian (mainly Catholic) clergy and other "enemies of the state” for not conforming to the Nazi Party line.  But over time the Nazis began to send Germans of Jewish ancestry to the camp, leading to more than 10,000 prisoners. Once Austria was annexed and Czechoslovakia was defeated, the citizens of both countries became the next prisoners at Dachau. Subsequently, the camp was used for prisoners of all sorts, from every nation occupied by the forces of the Third Reich. In 1940, Dachau became filled with Polish prisoners, who constituted the majority of the prisoner population until Dachau was officially liberated in 1945.

Though Dachau was chiefly a political camp, rather than an extermination camp, around 160,000 prisoners were sent to its main camp, with over 32,000 inmates were either executed or died of disease, malnutrition or brutalization. Dachau was also the first Nazi camp to use prisoners as human guinea pigs in medical experiments. Nazi scientists tested the effects of freezing and changes to atmospheric pressure on inmates, infected them with malaria and tuberculosis and treated them with experimental drugs, and forced them to test methods of making seawater potable and of halting excessive bleeding. Hundreds of prisoners died or were crippled as a result of these experiments.

As the Allies advanced across Europe at the end of the Second World War, they came across concentration camps filled with sick and starving prisoners.


The first major camp to be liberated was Majdanek near Lublin, Poland in July 1944. Surprised by the rapid Soviet advance from the east, the Nazis attempted to hide the evidence of mass murder by demolishing much of the camp, but parts - including the gas chambers - were left standing.

As the Soviet Army advanced from the east, the Nazis transported prisoners away from the front and deep into Germany. Some prisoners were taken from the camps by train, but most were force-marched hundreds of miles, often in freezing weather and without proper clothing or shoes. Over the course of these death marches, which sometimes lasted weeks, tens of thousands of people died from cold or hunger, or were shot because they could not keep up.

In January 1945, Auschwitz-Birkenau was overrun by Russian soldiers. It was the largest extermination and concentration camp, to which over a million people had been deported from all over Europe. Upon liberation, only a few thousand prisoners remained. Most of the surviving prisoners had been taken away on death marches.

Survivors who were moved from camps close to the front were sent to Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Terezín (Theresienstadt) and Ravensbrück, or one of their many sub-camps. The resulting overcrowding in these camps hastened the spread of disease and caused many more deaths.

In every camp, Allied soldiers encountered appalling scenes. Bergen-Belsen was liberated by British forces on 15 April 1945. It had become exceptionally overcrowded after the arrival of survivors of the death marches. Thousands of unburied bodies lay strewn around the camp, while in the barracks some 60,000 starving and mortally ill people were packed together without food or water. The mortality rate amongst those suffering from typhus was over 60 per cent.

The first intake of food proved fatal for many prisoners, too weak from starvation to digest it. For the survivors of the Nazi camps, the road to recovery would be long and painful.

ANSWER: E. "gone with the wind"

“GOOD RIDDANCE" // TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, ACT II, SCENE I

"A good riddance." — Patroclus

Where would the world be without Shakespeare’s riposte? – popular for corrupt politicians, insects, and in-laws.

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"FAIR PLAY" // THE TEMPEST, ACT V, SCENE I

"Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle, and I would call it fair play." — Miranda

Prospero's daughter never would have been able to predict that "fair play" is used more often now in sports than it is for the negotiation of kingdoms.

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"LIE LOW" // MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, ACT V, SCENE I

"If he could right himself with quarreling, some of us would lie low." — Antonio

Shakespeare's plays contain brilliant wisdom that still applies today. In "lie low," he concocted the perfect two-word PR advice for every celebrity embroiled in a scandal.

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"IT'S GREEK TO ME" // JULIUS CAESAR, ACT I, SCENE II

"Nay, an I tell you that, Ill ne'er look you i' the face again: but those that understood him smiled at one another and shook their heads; but, for mine own part, it was Greek to me." — Casca

"It's all Greek to me” might possibly be the most intelligent way of telling someone that you have absolutely no idea what's going on.

ANSWER: B. Ernest Hemingway

ANSWER: E. Émile Zola



Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (1840 – 1902)  was a French novelist, playwright, journalist, and founder of the Naturalist movement in 19th-century French literature. Zola’s  "J'Accuse...!" ("I Accuse...!" ) was an open letter to the President of France, Félix Faure, accusing the French government of falsely convicting Alfred Dreyfus, a French artillery officer of Jewish faith and ancestry, for treason.  Dreyfus was found guilty in a secret military court-martial, during which he was denied the right to examine the evidence against him. The Army stripped him of his rank in a humiliating ceremony and shipped him off to Devil's Island, a penal colony located off the coast of French Guiana in South America. Known as the Dreyfus affair, it became one of the most controversial and polarizing political dramas in modern French history.  Zola risked his career when he decided to stand up for Alfred Dreyfus as well as attack anti-Semitism. His intention was to draw the accusation so broadly that he would essentially force men in the government to sue him for libel. Once the suit was filed, the Dreyfusards (supporters of Dreyfus) would have the opportunity to acquire and publicize the shaky evidence on which Dreyfus had been convicted. Zola titled his letter "J’Accuse" (French for "I Accuse"), which was published on the front page of Georges Clemenceau's liberal Paris daily L'Aurore. Zola was brought to trial for publishing his letter to the President, and was convicted two weeks later for libel. Sentenced to jail, Zola fled to England, and stayed there until the French Government collapsed; he continued to defend Dreyfus. Four years after this famous letter to the president, Zola died from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a blocked chimney. In 1953, the newspaper Liberation published a death-bed confession by a Parisian roofer that he had murdered Zola by blocking the chimney of his house. On 4 June 1908, Zola's remains were laid to rest in the Panthéon in Paris.

In 1899, Dreyfus returned to France for a retrial, but although found guilty again, he was pardoned. Dreyfus appealed his case again in 1906 to obtain the annulment of his guilty verdict. He was also awarded the Cross of the Légion d'honneur, which was for “a soldier who has endured an unparalleled martyrdom." While attending a ceremony removing Zola's ashes to the Panthéon on 4 June 1908, Dreyfus was wounded in the arm by a gunshot from a right-wing journalist.

Zola’s  famous words led to a number of other "J'Accuse...!"

• In 1915, the German pacifist Richard Grelling wrote a book titled J'Accuse! in which he condemned the actions of the German Empire.
• In 1919, French film director Abel Gance released his film J'accuse as a statement against World War I, shooting Gance to international fame.
• In 1925, the most popular Palestinian Arab newspaper, Filastin (La Palestine), published a four-page editorial protesting the Balfour Declaration with the title "J'Accuse!"
• In 1938, the Belgian fascist politician Léon Degrelle published a polemic booklet titled J'accuse against minister Paul Stengers, of being a "cumulard, a bankster, a plunderer of savings and a coward". It provoked a retaliatory pamphlet titled J'accuse Léon Degrelle.
• In 1950, on Easter Sunday, members of the Lettrist movement proclaimed the death of God before the congregation of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Michel Mourre used the phrase "J'accuse" to proclaim what he saw as the wickedness of the Roman Catholic Church.
• In 1954, during the controversy surrounding J. Robert Oppenheimer and the allegations that he posed a security risk to the Atomic Energy Commission, journalists Joseph and Stewart Alsop wrote an article for Harper's Magazine titled "We Accuse!", in which they defend Oppenheimer as the victim of a petty grudge held by AEC chairman Lewis Strauss.
• In 1961, during the trial of Adolf Eichmann, head prosecutor Gideon Hausner used the phrase in his opening statement.
• In 1974 the book 'Upon My Word!' contained a humorous story from the UK radio panel game 'My Word' by Frank Muir which featured Zola calling for an imaginary English painter named Jack Hughes to assist Manet in painting 'Dejeuner sur l'herbe'.
• In 1997, the South Park episode "Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus" sees Terrance and Phillip on trial for murder. During the closing argument, Scott, the prosecutor says "j'ai accuse" (sic).
• In 1998, the Australian satirical television program The Games debuted a character named Jack Hughes in an episode titled "J'Accuse". The show was a satire critical of, among other things, corruption in the organizing of the Olympic Games in Sydney; the character Jack Hughes was a journalist who often probed into scandals and corruption, much to the annoyance of the show's protagonists.
• In 2001, The West Wing episode "The Indians in the Lobby" includes President Josiah Bartlet accosting the first lady by proclaiming "J'Accuse, mon petit fromage!"
• In 2003, New Directions published Israeli poet Aharon Shabtai's J'Accuse, a collection of poems drawn from two different collections, Politika and Artzenu and translated by Peter Cole.
• In 2008, film director Peter Greenaway released a documentary titled Rembrandt's J'Accuse. It is a companion piece to his film Nightwatching. It illustrates Greenaway's theory that Rembrandt's painting The Night Watch leaves clues to a murder by some of those portrayed.
• In 2012, Wayne Swan, the then Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, told Prime Minister Julia Gillard that she had given the "j'accuse speech" when she delivered her misogyny speech to the Australian Parliament, accusing Opposition Leader Tony Abbott of sexism and misogyny.
• On October 7, 2013, the Cartoon Network show Adventure Time released an episode titled 'Box Prince'. In the episode the main protagonist "Finn" is attempting to aid the rightful prince of the Box Kingdom after discovering he was replaced by an impostor. When confronting the imposter prince he swings his arm towards the false leader and shouts "J'accuse!".
• On May 13, 2016, Brazilian columnist and politics professor Vladimir Safatle published an article in the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper titled "Nós acusamos" (we accuse) denouncing the several problems related to the removal from office of Brazil's president Dilma Rousseff.
• On September 1, 2016, Argentinian lawyer and politician Margarita Stolbizer published a book titled Yo acuso ("I accuse") denouncing corruption during the government of Argentina's president Cristina Kirchner.
• On June 9, 2017, The New York Times' White House correspondent Peter Baker wrote, in reference to the testimony of fired US FBI director James Comey before the US Senate's Intelligence Committee, "While delivered in calm, deliberate and unemotional terms, Mr. Comey’s testimony on Thursday was almost certainly the most damning j’accuse moment by a senior law enforcement official against a president [referring to Donald Trump] in a generation."

ANSWER: D. Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney: $1.2 billion

Bruce Springsteen: $500 Million

Elton John: $450 million

Mick Jagger: $360 million

Beyoncé & Jay-Z: $162 million

To determine our rankings, we consider income from touring, music and outside business ventures with the help of Pollstar, Nielsen Music and interviews with industry insiders including many of the stars themselves. Our list measures pretax earnings and does not deduct fees for agents, managers or lawyers. The ranking once again highlights an unfortunate reality of the music business: just ten women out of 40 names, only a marginal improvement over last year's one-in-five ratio, while 15 people of color made the list, though five of them in the top ten.

A. American football

American football is the most popular sport to watch in the United States, followed by baseball, basketball, and ice hockey, which makes up the "4 major sports." Soccer, tennis, golf, wrestling, auto racing, arena football, field lacrosse, box lacrosse and volleyball are also played in the country.

B. Military unit designed to prevent the retreat of its soldiers.

Blocking units, barrier troops, or anti-retreat forces were military units located in the rear of the front line (behind the main forces) to maintain military discipline, preventing the flight of servicemen from the battlefield. In the Soviet Union, the Red Army (National Revolutionary Army) concept of “blocking units” first arose in August 1918 on the Eastern Front during the Russian Civil War. Bolshevik War Commissar Leon Trotsky authorized the 1st Army to station blocking detachments behind unreliable Red Army infantry regiments, with orders to shoot if front-line troops either deserted or retreated without permission. The barrier troops were also used to enforce Bolshevik control over food supplies in areas controlled by the Red Army, a role which soon earned them the hatred of the Russian civilian population. The concept was re-introduced on a larger scale during the Second World War in response to unit disintegration in battle and desertion from the ranks in the Soviet Red Army.

During the Battle of Nanking (December 12, 1937) in the Second Sino-Japanese War, a Red Army (NRA) battalion was guarding the Yijiang Gate with orders to 'let no one through'. The NRA collapsed against the Japanese onslaught, and units tried to retreat without orders through the gate The battalion shot into the crowd, killing many people.

C. Philadelphia

Mark Twain (or perhaps Tennessee Williams, Will Rodgers, a French newspaper, anonymous)  had touched on a complaint that many American cities where monotonous cookie cutter versions of each other, where one place was not much different from another. Granted this is well-over a hundred years ago, when Las Vegas, Seattle and Anchorage were still struggling little villages and outposts. Plus, at the time of the quotation, the very distinctive and historical city of Santa Fe, New Mexico had barely joined Union, and was not traversed by many writers, still regarded as a faraway Mexican capital city.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (later Mark Twain) was born November 30, 1835 in the village of Florida, Missouri. Recent state census report the village as uninhabited. The Mark Twain Birthplace State Historic Site is located in Florida, with Mark Twain State Park nearby. Clemens grew up in the small town of Hannibal, Missouri with his sister and two brothers. The town of Hannibal was located right on the Mississippi River and Samuel loved to watch the river boats pass by as a child. Many of his stories later were inspired by his own adventures on the river. Growing up, Samuel dreamt of becoming a steamboat pilot. At the age of 11, his father died, and Samuel quit school and went to work as an apprentice for a printer to support his family. It was here that he learned about writing, which eventually reflected his offbeat and humorist personality. Around the age of 21, Samuel decided to pursue his dream. He trained as a pilot on a steamboat. He had to learn all the potential dangers and snags along the lower Mississippi river. It took him two years of hard work and study, but he eventually earned his pilot's license. At the start of the Civil War, he joined a Confederate militia for two weeks, but quit before he had to face combat. Clemens moved out west, earning a living writing for newspapers in Nevada and San Francisco. When he started writing, he took on the pseudonym of Mark Twain, stemming from a term used on steamboats to signal that the water was 12 feet deep. He soon began writing short stories for the newspapers, full of humor and adventure that captivated readers. His first popular short story was called "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," bringing him national attention. The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches is the title of his first book, a collection of 27 short stories by Twain which were previously published in magazines and newspapers. Twain moved on to writing novels,  where some told funny stories from his own travels such as Roughing It and Innocents Abroad. Other popular books include The Prince and the Pauper, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Life on the Mississippi, and Pudd'nhead Wilson. Twain's most famous books are the two "river novels" that tell the adventures of young boys on the Mississippi River. The first was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and was followed by its sequel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), which many consider "The Great American Novel."

Twain's love for adventure and risk got him into financial trouble later in life. He invested his earnings into failed businesses and inventions. In order to pay the bills, he traveled around the world giving lectures and speeches. They were very popular and he was eventually able to pay off his debts. Twain married the former Olivia Langdon in 1870; she died in 1904, and the melancholy tone of Twain’s later writings is often attributed to his depression over her death. None-the-less Twain was remarkably progressive; a strong supporter of the abolitionist movement to end  to slavery, and a champion for women's rights and suffrage. Mark Twain died of a heart attack on April 21, 1910 in Redding, Connecticut.

Quotes by Mark Twain

• "Kindness is the language the deaf can hear and the blind can see."
• “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.”
• "It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."
• "The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up."
• "The secret of getting ahead is getting started."
• "Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please."
• "If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything."
• “When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Cincinnati because it’s always 20 years behind the times.”

C. The Tulsa Race Riot (May 31 & June 1, 1921)

The Tulsa Race Riot (also called the Tulsa Race Massacre, the Greenwood Massacre, or the Black Wall Street Massacre) took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921, when mobs of white residents attacked black residents and businesses of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, demanding an innocent black man to be lynched. It has been called "the single worst incident of racial violence in American history." The attack, carried out on the ground and from private aircraft, destroyed more than 35 square blocks of the district – at that time the wealthiest black community in the United States – known as "Black Wall Street". More than 800 people were admitted to hospitals and as many as 6,000 black residents were interned at large facilities, many for several days. The Oklahoma Bureau of Vital Statistics officially recorded 36 dead, but the American Red Cross estimated 150–300 deaths.

Read Ed Boitano’s article about the Greenwood Cultural Center and the Tulsa Race Riot.

History of Other U.S. Race Riots

The Manhattan Draft Riots (July 13-16, 1863): The explosion of anger at being conscripted into the Union army quickly turned racist, as immigrants from Ireland began attacking blacks and their property, including an orphanage for black children. The official number of dead is either 119 or 120. The Draft Riots are so-called because the Union army began conscripting citizens for military service, but if a payment of $300 could be made (worth about $9,000 now), then conscription could be avoided. Manhattan’s wealthy could buy their way out of military service, while the city’s poorer immigrant population, mostly from Ireland, could not. The turn from the draft to African-Americans is attributed to resentment and fear on the part of the immigrant community. Manhattan’s black community virtually disappeared after the riot.

The Atlanta Race Riot ( Sept. 22-24, 1906): The Atlanta Race Riot of 1906 made headline news throughout Europe and the Americas for its especially brutal character. The Atlanta race riot was an attack by armed mobs of white Americans against African Americans in Atlanta, Georgia According to the Atlanta History Center, some black Americans were hanged from lampposts; others were shot, beaten or stabbed to death as white mobs invaded black neighborhoods, destroying homes and businesses. The immediate catalyst was newspaper reports of four white women raped in separate incidents, allegedly by African American men. An underlying cause was the growing racial tension in a rapidly-changing city and economy, with competition for jobs, housing, and political power.

The Detroit  Race Riot of 1943 (June 20-22, 1943): Detroit’s three-days of rioting was the result of racial tensions between migrated blacks from the U.S. rural South and migrated whites also from the U.S. rural South, who had both arrived in the industrialized North for better opportunities. As they competed for jobs against one another, the situation intensified, leading to the bloodiest and costliest race riot of 1943. Thirty-four people died and about 1,800 were arrested. Detroit’s auto industry was, at the time of the riots, churning out machines for the Allies’ war effort, and while the riots didn’t affect production, the Japanese Empire used the incident as propaganda and called on American blacks to not participate in the war effort against the Axis.

Los Angeles Rodney King Riots, (April 29-May 4, 1992): The brutal beating of African-American Rodney King, and the subsequent acquittal of the LAPD officers for that beating (which was caught on camera) led to the worst riot in the United States since the late 1960s. The reaction to the acquittal in South Central Los Angeles — now known as South Los Angeles — was then an area where more than half of the population were black. Tension had already been mounting in the neighborhood in the years leading up to the riots: the unemployment rate was about 50 percent, a drug epidemic was ravaging the area, and gang activity and violent crime were high.

Another contributing factor: The same month as Rodney King's beating, a Korean store owner in South Los Angeles shot and killed a 15-year-old African-American girl named Latasha Harlins, who was accused of trying to steal orange juice. It was later discovered Harlins was clutching money to pay for the juice when she was killed. The store owner received probation and a $500 fine. The incident heightened tensions between Koreans and African-Americans, and intensified the black community's frustration with the criminal justice system. At the same time, the community's anger was also deepening against Los Angeles police, who felt they were not protected during this almost lawless period, but instead were being harassed without cause.

C. Smokestack Lightning

Chester Arthur Burnett (1910 –1976), known as Howlin' Wolf, was a Chicago blues singer, guitarist, and harmonica player. Originally from White Station, Mississippi, he moved to Chicago in adulthood and became successful, forming a rivalry with fellow bluesman Muddy Waters."Smokestack Lightning" (also "Smoke Stack Lightning" or "Smokestack Lightnin'") is a blues song recorded by Howlin' Wolf in 1956. It became one of his most popular and influential songs. It is based on earlier blues songs, and numerous artists later interpreted it. In the early to mid-1960s, it became a live staple of British Invasion rock and roll bands, including the Yardbirds, Manfred Mann, the Animals, and the Who as well as American groups, such as Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, the Electric Prunes, Kaleidoscope and the Wailers. The song has also been performed or recorded by Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, John Lee Hooker, John Mayer, Bob Dylan, and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

William James Dixon (1915 – 1992), known as Willie Dixon, was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. Born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Dixon was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar, and sang with a distinctive voice, but he is perhaps best known as one of the most prolific songwriters of his time. Along with Muddy Waters, Dixon is recognized as the most influential person in shaping the post–World War II sound of the Chicago blues.

Dixon was an important link between the blues and rock and roll. His songs have been recorded by countless musicians in many genres as well as by various ensembles. In particular, his songs have been adapted by numerous rock artists; Jeff Beck, Canned Heat, Cream, the Doors, Led Zeppelin, and the Rolling Stones, which opened the ears of the America’s audience to what they thought was a new sound. A short list of his most famous compositions include:

"Hoochie Coochie Man" (originally titled "I'm Your Hoochie Cooche Man") is a blues standard written by Willie Dixon and first recorded by Muddy Waters in 1954. The song makes reference to hoodoo folk magic elements and makes novel use of a stop-time musical arrangement. It became one of Waters' most popular and identifiable songs and helped secure Dixon's role as Chess Records' chief songwriter.

“I Just Want to Make Love to You" is a 1954 blues song written by Willie Dixon, first recorded by Muddy Waters, and released as "Just Make Love to Me." Backing Waters on vocals are Little Walter on harmonica, Jimmy Rogers on guitar, Otis Spann on piano, Willie Dixon on bass, and Fred Below on drums. Waters recorded the song again for the album “Electric Mud” in 1968.

“Little Red Rooster" (or "The Red Rooster") is a blues standard credited to Willie Dixon as arranger and songwriter. The song was first recorded in 1961 by American blues musician Howlin' Wolf in the Chicago blues style. His vocal and slide guitar playing are key elements of the song. It is rooted in the Delta blues tradition and the theme is derived from folklore. On December 1964, the Rolling Stones reached number one on the UK Singles Chart with their cover of the song.

"Spoonful" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon and first recorded in 1960 by Howlin' Wolf. Called "a stark and haunting work," it is one of Dixon's best known and most interpreted songs. Etta James and Harvey Fuqua had a pop and R&B record chart hit with their duet cover of "Spoonful" in 1961, and it was popularized in the late 1960s by the British rock group Cream. The lyrics relate men's sometimes violent search to satisfy their cravings, with "a spoonful" used mostly as a metaphor for pleasures, which have been interpreted as sex, love, and drugs.

Dixon devoted much of his time in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s to the organization he founded, Blues Heaven Foundation. His vision was to allow the echoes of great American Blues to continue to develop, to encourage a new generation of blues greats and to provide for the on-going welfare of senior Blues musicians.